Hindsight is always 20/20, and more than once in my life, I’ve found myself repeating that old saying “I sure wish I knew then what I know now.” Looking back over my life, from today’s perspective, I can see a lot of things I would change, if I had it to do over. 

For example, going back to my high school days, I wish I had spent more time paying attention in typing class, and less time staring at that pretty girl with the long blonde hair who sat across the aisle from me. I’ve forgotten who she was long ago, but as a writer, knowing how to type with more than two fingers would really come in handy. Somebody gave me a touch typing instructional CD a couple of years back, but the habit of a lifetime are hard to overcome.

Speaking of bad habits, anybody who saw the pictures of my daughter in the last two blogs knows that she is the one in our family with the willpower. Tiffany was able to break her unhealthy habits at a relatively young age, while mine are so ingrained that I will probably never lose that kind of weight.

More than once I have wished I had made a career out of the Army. I made rank fast, and I enjoyed military life. It would be nice to have that military retirement to fall back on at this point in my life, and as a fulltime RVer, I’d sure love to be able to take advantage of the Fam Camps on military bases across the country.

Of course, like every RVer, I have my “shoulda, coulda, wouldas,” as my friend Joe Kieva calls them. If I had it to do over again, I’d have done more homework before we started out, and bought a diesel pusher motorhome to begin with.

I would not have invested so much money in an expensive campground membership in our first month on the road. But back then, we had never heard of resale memberships and the bargains they offer.

One thing I would have invested in was an automatic rooftop satellite TV dish. After over ten years of fumbling around with a tripod mounted dish, it sure is nice to just push a button and sit on the couch waiting until the dish locks onto a signal.

I could go on and on – there are roads we should have traveled, and those we should have avoided. There are campgrounds where we should have stopped, and others where we should have just kept right on driving. And there are several dead end streets we never should have turned down! But we’ve all been there, haven’t we?

As a fulltime RVer, there is no doubt that the one thing I would do differently is to have started out years earlier. We were in our mid-40s when we hit the road, and we regret the years and adventures we missed, while we were stuck in our workaholic ruts. I’ve never heard a fulltimer say that they wish they had worked longer, or that they had not started out so soon.

Of course, Miss Terry always reminds me that who we are today is the result of all of the things we have experienced in the past, good or bad. And some of those missteps do lead to good stories to tell around the campfire.  Yes, you really can back up a motorhome with a tow car attached if the street is narrow enough and the neighborhood shady enough to prevent you from wasting time unhooking. You shouldn’t, but you can!

So what about you? What would you do over, if you had it to do again?

Thought For The Day – Sometimes life gives you a second chance.

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With temperatures in the mid to upper 90s yesterday in Elklhart, and humidity over 50%, it wasn’t a day to get out and do much. Our MCI bus conversion is so well insulated that we seldom need our rooftop air conditioner to feel comfortable, but yesterday we turned it on early and stayed inside all day.

It was a good day for paperwork, and while I updated our mailing lists, Miss Terry began proofing a new book I hope to get out before our Ohio Gypsy Gathering rally. There wasn’t much on TV that interested us, so we listened to music most of the day. I like days like that once in a while, and we get a lot accomplished, but after spending the entire weekend inside, I’ve got cabin fever and need a break. Hopefully today we do something different, even if it’s just going to the laundromat.

As a writer, I don’t know how I ever got by without the internet. I used to spend hours in libraries doing research, and I loved prowling the stacks looking for books on any and every topic under the sun. But with the internet, I can find just about anything I want in seconds, with just a few keystrokes and a mouse click or two.

Yesterday I came across an interesting website called Mental Floss, which has an amazing amount of trivia and little-known information, from 7 Civil War Stories You Didn’t Learn in School, to the Bizarre History of White House Pets, to 10 Bizarre Athlete Superstitions.

Of course, the Internet is also a great source of misinformation. It has changed the Urban Legend into worldwide phenomena. I am constantly amazed at all of the crapola that shows up in my e-mail inbox. And you know it has to be true, because it’s on the internet. I delete about 90% of the stuff that gets forwarded to me, because I don’t have the time or interest to read it, and because I’ve seen most of it many times before.

Some of these stories have some basis in fact, but are updated and morphed into fiction to take advantage of whatever is currently catching the public’s interest.

One that I have received a dozen or more times in the last few days is that while the media was falling all over itself covering the death of Michael Jackson, there was no mention of the death the same week of Ed “Too Tall” Freeman, who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Landing Zone X-Ray, in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam in 1965. Ed Freeman flew his unarmed helicopter into the overwhelmed landing zone under heavy enemy fire fourteen times on that day to bring out 30 wounded soldiers. When I was in the First Cavalry a few years later, Ed Freeman was a legend.

However, Ed Freeman did not die the same week as Michael Jackson! The war hero actually died August, 20, 2008 in Boise, Idaho. To use his name and accomplishments to foster an internet myth is objectionable to me. Whenever I get some story like this, if I look at it at all, I run it past Snopes to see if there is any validity to it.

Okay, enough with the internet, I need to get outside and experience real life today!

Thought For The Day – The labels we stick on ourselves define how we live. What do your labels say?

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